Tell Us About the Boy From New York City
by eric-idle-rules
Summary: AU. Ted and Cody started something in high school, but what did they make of it? Major angst warning here.


Another year, another school. This time, though, he was in high school. Ted never liked how his family jumped from city to city, state to state, hell, even country to country. And now he had to start at a new school, yet again. He was never able to make friends, not long-lasting ones, anyway. But his parents said this time would be different. They would do everything in their power to stay here so he could finish out his four years of high school in the same place.

After homeroom, where he didn't speak to anyone, there was first period. His English class. Since everyone loved learning about proper grammar usage and Shakespeare at 7:30 in the morning. When the teacher called his name during roll call, he raised his hand and said, "Present," unaware that one kid the next row on his left and one seat behind was staring at him intently.

The class went fairly quickly, and just when the bell rang, the class stood up to leave. "Hey," Cody, the kid in the next row, said as he came up beside Ted. "Never seen you around before."

"I just moved here two weeks ago."

"That'd explain it, then. I'm Cody," he introduced himself with a smile.

"Ted," he replied, his own smile on his face.

"Where are you going next?" he asked, looking down at his own schedule. He was on his way to the third floor for his algebra class.

"Math."

"Really? With who?"

Ted looked back at the schedule, "Says here it's with Stone."

"No shit, that's who I have right now, too."

After math, they parted ways, only to meet back up again during 6th period for lunch. Ted was in line, getting today's hot lunch, and as he was leaving the line with his tray, he saw Cody with a brown bag in front of him at a nearby table. "Mind if I sit here," he asked, sitting down before he got an answer.

"Actually, yes, I'm saving it for someone."

Ted's face fell and he made to stand up. "Sorry, I—"

"I'm kidding! Of course you can sit there."

A few of Cody's other friends came to sit around them, but Cody's focus was mainly on Ted. He already knew his old friends. Ted was new, and he seemed a hell of a lot more interesting than the guys next to him, discussing their new D&D strategies.

Over the next four years, the two were hardly ever found apart. People called them the bookends. Their weekends were generally spent at one or the other's house. Ted always went to Cody's wrestling tournaments, and Cody attended every home soccer game, sometimes he'd even go to the away games, just to support Ted.

In their junior year, during the spring, prom season, the two started their own school dance tradition.

"So, Codes," Ted said one day, elbowing Cody as he stood by Cody's locker, "you going to prom with anyone?"

"I'm not going to prom."

"Why not?"

"Thought I'd stay home with my friend Jimmy."

Ted cocked his head slightly. Why would he want to hang out with this other guy instead of him? "Who the hell's Jimmy?"

Cody laughed, "You know Jimmy. Jim Bean."

"Ohhhh," Ted said, realization dawning.

"Was hoping to make it a three-way, if you're interested."

"Well, I need to get reacquainted with Jimmy. It's been a while."

Cody gave him a smile. "Good call. My house prom night, seven o'clock. Be there or be square."

"I'll be there, for sure."

And so it was for the prom, homecoming and every other dance the school held. Instead of attending, Ted and Cody would get drunk and play Nintendo or cards and simply spend the time together.

And then it was senior prom time. Ted arrived at Cody's house at exactly seven, just as the doors were opening to the prom. Over in Cody's small room, the two cracked open a new bottle of Jim Bean. Cody held the bottle in the air and said, "To our last dance," and then took a drink.

Ted took the bottle, saying, "I'll drink to that," and took a long swallow. He then raised the bottle in his own toast. "To the book ends," he said, giving Cody a wink before drinking.

Cody laughed as the alcohol was passed back to him. "To the book ends!" he repeated.

Minutes flew by, turning into hours. Both of them were completely wasted, and there wasn't much whiskey left. Cody held the bottle in his hands, swaying slightly side to side. He then looked into Ted's eyes and he knew exactly what he had to say. He raised the bottle, "To us."

After he drank, he handed the bottle over to Ted. "To us," he echoed, and just as the last of the alcohol was down his throat, Cody moved in, capturing Ted's lips in their first kiss.

Ted was too drunk to resist, if anything, he wanted it. He let Cody's body rest of top of his as he lie back on the bed, kissing Cody with all he had.

Clothes were tossed everywhere, the bottle was knocked to the floor, and both teens were now completely naked on Cody's bed. "I wanted to do this since I first saw you," Cody slurred.

"I wanted it since I first saw you wrestle."

Cody giggled as he started pressing small kisses down Ted's neck and chest. "The singlet doesn't leave much to the imagination, does it?"

Ted brushed his hand over Cody's dick, "Don't have to imagine anything anymore."

Lips were on lips once more as Ted rolled Cody onto his back. He rubbed his hand over his dick, spreading the leaking precum over it, coating himself as best he could. He knew it wouldn't be enough, though. He spit into his hand, trying to use that as extra lubrication. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."

"I know. Just… I want you," Cody said, raising his knees to his chest, in turn lifting his ass off the bed to give Ted prime access.

Ted lined up his dick with Cody's puckered hole and pushed himself in, bringing his mouth down to Cody's to try and muffle the cries of obvious pain. He moved his hips back and forth, slowly at first, wanting Cody to adjust to the intrusion. As he pushed in again, he sensed a change in Cody's cries. That wasn't one of pain. He broke off the kiss and opened his eyes, only to find Cody's ice blue eyes looking up at him. "How you feelin'?"

"Do. That. Again," Cody gasped before reaching his hands up to wrap into Ted's hair. "You feel so good, Teddy."

Ted did just as Cody demanded, he bucked his hips forward, striking Cody's prostate once more. Cody felt good, felt _amazing_ around his dick. And now that he could see that Cody was receiving as much pleasure from this as he was, he felt even better. He wasn't able to last much longer after that. Their rhythm picked up, and Cody's body was starting to react around him, overwhelming his senses.

As soon as Cody's hips arched off the bed and a cry escaped his lips, Ted arched his back, sending his dick deep into Cody's willing body. Both of them came at the same time, calling out each other's names, breathing heavily as Ted pulled out.

After that moment, for the rest of the year, they'd always find some place to get together, be it in the school locker room, a McDonald's bathroom, one of their houses, it didn't matter, as long as they were _together_.

And then came their graduation night. They had been planning on going back to Cody's, just like the dance nights. It was after the ceremony, their parents had left, as had most of the other students. They were standing under the bleachers, walking back to their cars, but then Cody stopped, grabbing Ted's arm to stop him as well. "What is it?" Ted asked, wanting to get a move on to Cody's house.

"Teddy… After this, you're going to college. I'm not. Will we be able to stay friends despite that?"

"Of course," Ted answered, fully certain of those words.

Cody blinked a couple times and finally set his eyes on Teddy's. He grabbed hold of Ted's hand and glanced around to see if anyone else happened to be around. When he didn't see anyone, he leaned forward and stole a kiss. When he pulled back, he whispered, "I love you."

Ted tightened the hold on Cody's hand as his body tensed up. "What did you say?"

"I said I love you."

He couldn't deal with this. Not right now. "I…" Ted shook his head back and forth. "No. You… I…"

"What is it?"

Ted pulled his hand out of Cody's grip. "Don't ever say shit like that to me again. You got it?"

"What's gotten into you?"

Cody's sad, blue eyes were the last thing he ever saw of Cody when he said, "I don't love you," and turned around, leaving Cody alone under the bleachers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The taxi pulled to as stop in front of one of the many towering sky scrapers of New York City. Today was Ted's first day of work on Wall Street, and he was still awed by the enormity of everything in the city. He stepped out of the cab and handed the driver some bills, and he was off. He walked past a few dirty street urchins whose grubby hands were out reaching for any handouts anyone had to offer. He approached a street sign, noting this was where he needed to cross.

"Can you spare some change?" a man asked from behind. Ted ignored him. "Please, sir?" the man asked again.

And then Ted spun around to face the man who actually had the gall to speak to him. As soon as his eyes found the eyes of the other man, he let go of his briefcase out of sheer shock, not caring as the briefcase opened, sending papers flying everywhere. He had stopped breathing. He had stopped thinking. He couldn't move, even if he tried. It was as if time itself had stopped. Everything around him stopped. Like they had hit absolute zero. And when Ted was finally able to speak again, all he could do was whisper, "Cody."

They continued to stare at each other, neither knowing what to say or do. They hadn't seen each other in over twenty years, not since high school.

Finally, Ted spoke again. "I have to go to work." He bent down and picked up the scattered papers.

When he stood up, he looked into Cody's eyes, which, if it was at all possible, grew even sadder at Ted's words. Ted was leaving him. Again. "Teddy," was all he could bring himself to say at that moment.

He bit his bottom lip, not sure if he should just keep walking and pretend this never happened, or if he should actually acknowledge the fact that fate had brought them back together again. "Will you be here when I get out of work?" he asked, making his decision.

Cody gave him a dry, humourless laugh, "As if I have anywhere else to go."

Five o'clock rolled around, and it was time to leave. It would be so easy to turn the opposite direction, catch a cab on some other street and ignore Cody even further. But Ted couldn't do it. Not again. He headed back towards Cody. When Ted saw Cody, he was now sitting against a building, his head thrown back against the wall, legs bent, arms draped over his knees. As soon as he saw Ted, though, he stood, hesitantly making his way closer.

Again, they awkwardly looked at each other. They were such a stark contrast to each other. Ted had on his finest suit and blue silk tie, a tie that matched Cody's eyes perfectly, his shoes were polished so well you could see your reflection, and his hair was groomed perfectly, showing off his full, healthy face. Cody was in a long sleeve shirt full of tiny rips and tears, his pants were torn at the knees, the sneakers he had on were falling apart, and his hair was grimy and stuck up in odd angles, bringing out the gauntness of his face. And he didn't know the last time he bathed.

And still neither one had spoken. There was so much to say, but neither knew how to say it.

Until Ted took a deep breath, "Do you want to come back to my apartment? To clean up that is. Not… anything else. My wife is going to meet with the school department's superintendent to talk about enrolling the kids in school."

"That would be nice. Thank you."

Ted nodded and hailed a cab, ignoring the strange look the driver gave him when Cody slipped into the back seat next to Ted. He told the driver his address and they were on their way.

"So, you're married now."

"Yeah. My wife's name is Kristen. We met when we were in college, both business majors."

"How many kids do you have?"

"Two, with a third on the way. Their names are Gregory and Emily."

"Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl, yet?"

"No, Kristen wants it to be a surprise, since we knew with our last two."

"It sounds like you're really enjoying yourself. Teddy, the family man. I'm happy for you," Cody said, giving him a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"Thank you." Now didn't seem like the right place to be getting into Cody's life. Not with the cabby so obviously listening to every word they were saying. So the rest of the drive was filled with nothing but the sounds of talk radio.

As soon as they were at Ted's apartment complex, they headed up the elevator to the 22nd story. "You live here? This is… Wow, this is amazing."

Ted unlocked the door, and Cody was even more in awe. "Yeah, this is where we live. The bathroom's over there," he said, pointing the way. "I'll get you some clothes so you can stop wearing those ones."

The first real smile Ted had seen on Cody's face in _years_ grew right before his eyes. "Thank you, Teddy, this means a lot to me."

Cody came out of the shower in just a towel, looking better than before, but Ted still noticed how thin Cody had become. He tossed Cody the clothes, and he started putting them on right there.

Ted was saddened to see how much the jeans were slipping off Cody's hips before he threaded and tightened the belt Ted had provided him. Yeah, Cody had always been the skinner of the two, but this was just unhealthy. As he slipped the shirt over his head, it broke Ted's heart to see every last rib bone as the skin was stretched as Cody raised his arms over his head.

"Cody… Codes… What the hell happened to you?"

Cody sighed, sitting down. He knew this would be coming up. "Well, after high school, I moved to LA to try and get into acting. While I was out there, my parents died in a car crash, so I went back home for a bit. And then I gave up on LA and decided to try New York. That's where I met Shawn. We moved in together, we partied together. We had a good life together."

"What happened?" Ted asked, not liking one bit where this story was going.

"He died."

"How?"

"Complications from AIDS," Cody answered, his voice faltering.

"Cody… Do you…" His question was left hanging in the air, unable to actually finish, get the words out of his mouth.

And then Cody nodded. "He didn't know until it was too late. As soon as he found out, I got tested. And I came back positive for HIV. Then, one year later, he was gone."

Ted bent forward from his seat on the couch, putting his head into his open hands, completely overwhelmed with emotion. "Why… Isn't there anything you can do? Why aren't you in a clinic somewhere?"

"Do you really think they'd take in a bum off the streets? That shit is expensive, and I don't have so much as a cent left to my name."

"What if I help? Is there anything that I can do for you?"

"Teddy, look at me. The disease is winning. There's no going back from it, not now."

"No! Don't say that!"

"And why do you suddenly care, Teddy? Why now? You didn't care about me when you told me after we graduated that you never wanted to see me again!" Cody shouted just before he went into a coughing fit.

"I never stopped caring."

Another cough, "Yeah, well, you got a shitty way of showing it."

"Are you ok? Do you need some water?"

"Water would be nice," Cody admitted.

Ted got up and grabbed a bottle from the fridge, walking back into the living room, twisting off the cap before handing the bottle over to Cody, suddenly flashing back to the night of senior prom. Cody took a couple swallows and then placed it on a coaster on the coffee table in front of him. "Thanks."

"Are you on medication?"

"Teddy, no. I can't afford it. How do you think I wound up on the streets? By fucking choice? I lived off what my parents and Shawn left me in their wills, but it wasn't much. My family was never well off. I still have debt from my doctor and hospital bills built up well above and beyond my neck. Got to the point where I couldn't afford rent because the medical bills were so high. Then I got evicted. And then I had nothing. Absolutely nothing."

God, Cody looked so tired. The more he spoke, the more drained he became. "But I can help you now. You can get the medicine you need and –"

"No, I can't. There's medication to suppress the HIV virus, but it's well past that. I know that my clock is ticking, and there's no Daylight Savings Time here. I just have to accept it."

"Stop saying shit like that! There has to be _something_ you can do!"

Cody sighed, too tired to do this right now. "How about you just leave me alone?"

"I—"

He stood up as he cut Ted off, "I'm leaving."

"At least let me put you up in a hotel."

"No, I don't want any fucking handouts from you! You can't make up for lost time by buying me my meds and a place to sleep, ok? I appreciated the shower and the clothes, but please, just let me go."

Ted nodded. If that's what Cody wanted, then so be it. He watched as Cody headed out the front door and gently shut it behind him. "Fuck!" he shouted. If he had never let Cody go… They had the opportunity all those years ago to be together. They could have been so happy together. And while Cody had the guts to admit it back then, he had been too chickenshit to respond. The idea that he was in love with Cody, well, that had been too much for him to handle.

But he had known that he loved Cody for a long time. Before graduation, before senior prom, before junior prom, before the second day of school, before second period math class.

And now he wished with all he had that he could turn back the hands of time to graduation day and say that he loved Cody, too. They could have been together for all this time. He could have been there for Cody when his parents died. There never would have been a Shawn. Cody wouldn't be sick. They'd both be happy.

Ted's thought process was interrupted as his wife and kids came in the door, all with smiles on their faces and Chinese take out boxes in their hands.

"Hi, Daddy! We brought dinner!" Emily said excitedly.

Ted gave her a big smile as she rushed into his arms and he picked her up, spinning her around. "Thank you guys," he said, setting her down. He gave Kristen a small peck on the lips and followed Greg into the kitchen to settle down for dinner.

Every day of work following that one fateful day, Ted got dropped off on the other side of the building, entering in through the back in order to avoid seeing Cody again. Until one day in late October, Ted decided to stop the cab in the same place he did on his first day of work. He stepped out of the cab and noticed a chill was in the air. Winter was on its way. He saw Cody, still in the clothes Ted let him have, slumped against the same wall with a small blanket over his arms and shouders.

"I thought I said I didn't want to see you again," Cody said very weakly, ending in yet more coughs.

"I know. But I… I don't know why I stopped here today."

Cody stood up very slowly and walked forward. "Do you regret saying those things to me in high school?" he whispered.

Ted nodded, "I do. All the time."

And with that, Cody collapsed. Ted managed to reach out his arms and catch him just in time. He propped him in one arm as he fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone. He punched in 911 and hit talk, telling them what just happened once someone answered. He continued to hold Cody in his arms until the ambulance arrived. He rode with Cody on the way to the hospital, explaining to them the situation as best he could.

Cody was wheeled into the ER while Ted was forced to wait outside. They asked if there were any family members they could contact, but Ted didn't think there was anyone. He then called into his work, taking an unexpected emergency day.

A nurse came out of the doors minutes, hours later, he didn't know anymore, and headed towards him, "Ted DiBiase?"

"Yes?" he asked, standing up, "What's going on?"

"He's asking for you, but he's still very weak."

"So, can I…?"

"Yes, you can go in and see him."

Cody fought to keep his eyes open as Ted walked in. "I told you it would win, didn't I?" he muttered quietly.

"It didn't have to, you know that. Not so soon," Ted said as he took a seat next to the bed, holding Cody's hand in his own.

"I've had it for years. It was just a matter of time. Been lucky that nothing like this happened before."

"But you'll be ok now," Ted said, sounding hopeful.

Cody shook his head, "No, I don't think so. In fact, I don't have much time left at all. Just glad to be spending it with you… I need to know, though, Teddy… Do you love me? Did you ever really love me?"

"Yes."

"Tell me. I need to hear you say it."

"I love you." Finally, after all these years, Ted said those three little words that meant the world to Cody.

"I love you, too. Always have. And Teddy?"

"Yes, Cody?"

"Keep loving me."

Ted bent forward and placed a kiss on Cody's lips as those blue eyes shut for the final time. "Always."

And five months later, when Ted and Kristen's son was born, Ted had the perfect name picked out for him. Cody.


End file.
